Holy Bone

"Stop!"

Fortunately, his reinforcements had arrived as well.

The Old Priest sat in the carriage, hurriedly shouting for them to stop.

Isabella sat astride her horse, displaying a valiant, dashing side of herself.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Naimus moved his foot away and kicked Jacques aside.

He had never intended to kill him.

The instant he let go, a stream of information flashed through his mind.

[Precept updated]

[Master Precept: Forgiveness]

[Precept feedback: Added (Jacques)—Holy Bone&%...￥]

[The newly added trait has changed. It has been altered to activate the Holy Bone trait within the body of Identity 2, Nigel Dartmenly.]

[Holy Bone: Enhanced capacity for divine abilities, reduced side effects of divine abilities, and newly gained adaptability to the power of faith.]

As those lines of information flowed past, Naimus clearly felt the changes in Nigel's body.

Every bone in his body itched faintly, but the sensation quickly vanished.

At the same time, Naimus could sense that his previously dim Aura of Life had changed as well.

"So powers from the same source could trigger linked changes under the influence of a Precept? That was fairly reasonable."

"After all, Nigel and Jacques were both products of the Dartmenly Family's illegal bloodline cultivation experiments." Some of Nigel's old memories flashed through Naimus's mind.

Jacques was much younger than Nigel. The techniques used on him were clearly more mature, and since he had not betrayed the family, his development had been far more comprehensive.

But now, with the aid of the Precept, Naimus had instantly made up for that gap—perhaps even surpassed him slightly.

"After all, Jacques still needed secret arts to temporarily gain the blessing of faith from a Divine Miracle. But my body contains a purified Holy Nail of faith."

Feeling the changes in the power of faith, Naimus wore the delighted expression of a farmer at harvest.

His use of the power of faith had advanced another step today.

The purified faith, combined with Holy Bone's adaptability to faith, caused the Holy Nail within Naimus's body to show signs of "melting."

Naimus even discovered that the Holy Nail, originally in a state between substance and illusion, had begun to take on a certain bony quality and was fusing with the bones already in his body.

"Unfortunately, this was not the time to study it further." Naimus looked at the Old Priest as he stepped down from the carriage and chose to question him. "Priest, are you planning to shield this apprentice Paladin who attacked me without cause?"

To strike first was to seize the initiative; more often than not, one had to claim the moral high ground.

When one was in the wrong, one used morality to make oneself seem right. When one was in the right, one used it to consolidate one's advantage and make sure the other side could not simply let the matter slide.

The Old Priest looked at Naimus, who still wore a smile on his face, then at the broken knight's sword to one side, and finally at Jacques, whose face was flushed red as he vomited and gasped nearby. A headache came over him.

He truly had not expected Jacques to be this impulsive.

Especially when he saw the section of white-yellow bone sphere exposed at Jacques's chest during his movements, the Old Priest's expression grew uglier still.

Yet after weighing his words for a moment, the Old Priest finally said, "Young people can become trapped within their own understanding. He could not see things clearly and acted on impulse, that is all."

"Nigel, for my sake, could you let him go?"

"I will punish him severely afterward, and I will ensure that the Dartmenly Family behind him will not trouble you again."

"No matter what, he is still young... He should not bear a criminal charge because of this." As the Old Priest spoke, he seemed somewhat dazed.

"I agreed to your request before because I owed you."

"And I am saving him now because I owe him as well."

"He is a victim too, isn't he?"

At this point, the Old Priest could only speak softly and plead.

"Are you truly certain that Dartmenly will not cause me trouble again?" Naimus asked for confirmation.

"I am certain!" the Old Priest said firmly. He still had that much influence.

In truth, Nigel had spent nearly eight years here without encountering any trouble precisely because the Old Priest was here.

Though the Old Priest considered himself somewhat selfish, in many matters, he genuinely did want what was best for these people.

After all...

"Part of Dartmenly's sins came from me as well." The Old Priest could not help recalling his former disciple.

Thinking of the changes in that person, he sighed inwardly.

"Perhaps I... perhaps I truly am hypocritical." With that thought, the Old Priest looked at the reluctant Naimus and raised the stakes. "I can also personally compensate you with a fine knight's sword."

"It bears eleven Divine Scripts and possesses considerable power."

The Old Priest was being exceedingly sincere.

Engraving Divine Scripts onto an object was equivalent to enchanting it.

Most ordinary objects bore only three Divine Scripts. After that, every additional script increased the engraving difficulty by thirty percent plus n.

By the time ten Divine Scripts were engraved, the difficulty had already doubled.

Thus, the more scripts an item bore, the more its value increased by multiples.

The Divine Script dagger Nigel had wanted to use to destroy the demon contract contained only nine scripts.

Yet that had been the sole inheritance Nigel had received from his parents, precious beyond measure.

A knight's sword bearing eleven Divine Scripts would absolutely inspire frenzied pursuit among many Paladins.

Seeing this, Naimus accepted the offer while the going was good. Looking at Jacques, who was gradually regaining his senses, he said, "Have him repair my door afterward."

With that, Naimus no longer remained in his house without a door and instead headed toward the village.

Looking at the empty doorframe, the others felt too embarrassed to go inside any longer.

Seeing this outcome, Isabella could not help sighing.

She vaguely felt that there was something wrong with Naimus. If Jacques had not acted impulsively, perhaps they might have had a chance to use Dartmenly's power to push The Church into conducting a genuine investigation.

Now, they likely could no longer do so.

As for Jacques, seeing the faint disappointment in Isabella's eyes hurt more than being defeated by Naimus.

His pride dealt a severe blow, Jacques simply groaned and fainted.

Seeing this, Isabella shook her head even more. If Jacques had simply admitted his mistake, she would have thought more highly of him.

"But that was only natural. He was merely a young man in his early twenties. Not everyone was like me, capable of keenly sensing other people's emotions." Since sensing her grandfather's emotions after his death, Isabella had found it easy to empathize with others.

She could feel the sorrow and despair within others' emotions.

And the reason she believed there was something wrong with Naimus was that Isabella had discovered she could not sense even the slightest trace of emotion from him.

Such people were not unheard of; the Old Priest was the same. But the Old Priest possessed a powerful meditative realm.

He had also lived a rich life of experience, so it was natural for him to control his emotions and keep them from spilling out.

Then what was Naimus's reason?

Isabella set those thoughts aside and began considering how to deal with this mess.

The tainted witness had died, and they still had much to report next.

How had everything turned out like this?

Thank you for following along.